The researchers said that teenagers who go to bed early and sleep longer than their peers tend to have more clear mental skills and record better in cognitive tests.
A study of more than 3000 teenagers showed that those who turned as soon as possible, slept the longest, and they had the lowest heartbeat in sleep surpassing others in reading, vocabulary, problem solving and other mental tests.
Researchers expected teenagers with healthy sleep habits better than those who sleep badly, but were surprised by the effect of small differences in sleep.
Parbra Sahakian, a professor of clinical nervous psychology in Cambridge University.
A good night comfort has always been linked to a better mental performance, but researchers still bother what is happening in adolescence when the decisive brain growth coincides with the shift towards subsequent sleep times and less sleep in general.
The Sahakian team and researchers at the University of Vodan in Shanghai analyzed data from 3222 young men in the study of the cognitive development of teenagers, the largest long -term achievement in brain development and child health in the United States. Those who participated in brain tests, cognitive tests, and followed their sleep using Fitbits.
The study found that even those who have the best sleep habits got less sleep than experts recommended. According to the American Academy of sleep medicine, children between the ages of 13 and 18 must have From eight to 10 hours Sleep at night.
Teenagers fell into three distinct groups. The first, about 39 %, went to the bed with the latest and woke up as soon as possible, asleep on average seven hours and 10 minutes per night. The second group, about 24 %, sleeps for seven hours and 21 minutes on average. And the third, about 37 %, went to bed as soon as possible, slept longer, and was the lowest heart rate. They slept about seven hours and 25 minutes.
While there were no meaningful differences in the educational achievements of the various groups, those in the third group recorded the highest level in cognitive tests, followed by the second group, and the first group recorded the worst. Brain tests have shown that those in the third group have the largest sizes in the brain and the best brain function. Details are published in Cell reports.
Sahakian said that it was “surprising” that the slight differences in sleeping have such an effect, adding: “It indicates that the small differences in the quantities of sleep accumulate over time to make a big difference in the results.”
For adolescents who want to improve their sleep and increase mental skills, Sahakian regularly recommends a practice to help sleep, and not to use mobile phones or computers late evening.
“One of the consequences of the presence of very advanced brains, which can perform complex tasks, said that we, as human beings, are particularly dependent on sleep, not the least in developing years,” said Colin Asbi, a professor of sleep medicine at Oxford University, who did not participate in the study.
“As this research appears, sleep late and less sleep is a problem. There is no doubt that this is exacerbated in the school days when young people need to wake up relatively early for the school, and to play the knee on weekends – a phenomenon known as the social LAG.”
He added: “We will do our best as a society to a greater focus on sleep through, for example, to merge more content of sleep health in personal and social education in high school.” The Oxford Teensleep project suggests ways to help teenagers improve sleep health.
Gareth Jaskel, Professor of Psychology at York University, welcomed the focus on early adolescence. “I would like to see more in intervention studies during adolescence so that we can know how to help teenagers who may have optimal sleep patterns. Often, very simple changes can be made on the sleep routine, for example about the use of the screen, to improve the timing and duration of sleep.”
